What if you could anywhere you want and NOT drive a car! Here’s an awesome map of California created by some very creative and dedicated designers:
Where would you go?
We love you anyway
The lights went out and the 49ers didn’t prevail. But we love the Niners anyway and we really love living here in the Bay Area. We heard from many of you on Facebook, Twitter and email about the places you love to go here. Thank you all for sharing your favorites with us!
Without further adieu, here are 49 super places to go outside in the Bay Area (in alphabetical order):
- Albany Bulb – Albany
- Angel Island
- Annadel State Park
- Ano Nuevo State Park
- Batteries to Bluffs Trail in Presidio
- Berkeley Marina
- Big Basin State Park
- Bothe Napa State Park
- Brannan Island State Park
- Briones Regional Park
- Butano State Park
- Cascade Falls
- China Camp
- Claremont Canyon – Berkeley
- Coyote Hills Regional Park
- Dipsea Trail
- Golden Gate Bridge to the Cliff House
- Golden Gate Park
- Guadalupe River Park & Gardens
- Henry Cowell State Park
- Hidden Villa
- Joaquin Miller Park
- Joseph Grant Park
- La Selva
- Lands End
- Lighthouse Field
- Montclair Railroad Trail
- Mount Diablo
- Mount Sutro Open Space Preserve
- Mount Tamalpais
- Muir Beach – Marin
- Muir Woods
- Natural Bridges
- New Brighton
- Ocean Beach
- Ohlone Wilderness Trail
- Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
- Redwood Regional Park
- Rush Ranch
- Samuel P Taylor State Park
- San Bruno Mountain
- Seacliff – Santa Cruz
- Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
- Stevens Creek Trail – San Jose
- Stinson Beach
- Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
- Tennessee Valley – Marin
- Tilden Park
- Wildcat Canyon Regional Park
Have you been to these places? What’s missing from this list? Tell us on Facebook and Twitter.
What are 49 Super Parks and Trails in the Bay Area?
Our beloved 49ers are playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday. And it got us thinking. What are 49 super Bay Area parks and trails? The weather is forecasted to be beautiful this weekend and it’s a great time to go outside.
We asked our friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter for their favorites and this is what we heard:
- Annadel State Park
- Batteries to Bluffs Trail in Presidio
- Cascade Falls
- China Camp
- Dipsea Trail
- Golden Gate Bridge to the CliffHouse
- Guadalupe River Park & Gardens
- Joaquin Miller Park
- Joseph Grant Park
- La Selva
- Lands End
- Lighthouse Field
- Montclair Railroad Trail
- Mount Diablo
- Mount Sutro Open Space Preserve
- Mt. Tamalpais
- Muir Woods
- Natural Bridges
- New Brighton
- Ocean Beach
- San Bruno Mountain
- Seacliff
- Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
- Stevens Creek Trail
- Tilden Park
What’s missing? Where are you going this weekend? Tell us here in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
200 Kids
The Boys & Girls Club of El Sobrante met Transit & Trails in the spring of 2012. Since then they have taken over 200 kids into nature – including Miller Knox and Point Pinole Regional Parks – using Transit & Trails to plan their trips. These pictures are from Instagram and we’re inspired!
What if?
What if taking the bus was that awesome?
We have a winner!
James McBryan, come on down! You have won a $100 gift card to REI!
Why you ask? Because he and some friends went on an awesome bike camping trip over Labor Day weekend and he shared his story with us. Read his story here.
And just in case you haven’t been bike touring before, or bike camping, check out the GoPro video of their trip:
Thanks James for going outside and burning no carbon in the process! And thanks to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the donated REI gift card!
How many???
How many hours this week were you inside? How many hours were you sitting in a chair at a desk? How many times did you look at a computer, TV, phone or some other screen? How many bags of chips, ice cream cones, and candy bars did you eat?
Take the Transit & Trails Challenge this weekend and get outside! Then we can ask… how many miles did you walk? How many vistas did you see? How many trees did you find shade or shelter under? How many birds did you hear? How many times did you laugh? How many times were your surprised?
Use Transit & Trails to get moving and get outside. Afterwards, tell us a story about your time out in nature. Like this one:
And enter to win!
Two people will be randomly selected to win $100 gift cards from REI. That’s right! To win, you must:
- Be between the ages of 15-25
- Take a bus, ferry, train, or some other form of public transportation to get outside.
- Write a story on the Transit & Trails website (on the page of the trip or trailhead or campground you went to)
- Have gone on this trip yourself at some point. It doesn’t necessarily have to be this weekend.
Contest closes at 9am on Tuesday, September 18. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 19.
Ready? Go!
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Thanks to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for giving us goodies to give to you like the REI gift cards. There are more. Stay tuned. Questions can be sent to annie at openspacecouncil dot org.
What they’re saying
“They” in this case is the Monument Community Partnership in Concord, CA. And this is what they did:
What a fantastic Thursday it was for staff that went on their very first Staff and Family Outing courtesy of Contra Costa County Spare the Air Resource Team, County Connection, and Transit and Trails. With walking shoes, backpacks, and water bottles in hand, staff members walked to the Concord BART station, traveled on BART to Lafayette, and then walked to the Reservoir. The goal of the outing was to strengthen personal bonds and encourage healthy, positive, recreational physical activities emphasizing team building and group interaction…mission accomplished and we had a great time doing it! One staff commented that they were surprised to find the beautiful Reservoir was only a 13 minute ride away on BART. Several of us have already made plans to head back to Lafayette in the near future to enjoy the same 2.7 mile walk around the Reservoir.
Have you used Transit & Trails to organize a group outing? We’d love to hear about it.
More S24O for ya
Intro to Bike Camping from Laura J. Lukitsch on Vimeo.
We have a soft spot for Laura because she did this video about a certain website and a certain mobile app. Ahem. But this bike camping thing – or whatever you call it – is cool.
Do tell!
We can assume that if you’re here you either care about transit (buses, trains, ferries, bikes, carpooling, etc) or trails (hiking, running, parks, riding, meandering, etc) or both. Are we right?
Will you tell us more? Would you spend 5 minutes answering 9 short questions about how and why and when you go outside? We want to improve Transit & Trails and knowing this stuff will help us do that.
For your troubles we will be forever grateful.